Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
will also draw people's attention to the possible abnormalities that the
technologies are designed to detect or deal with, abnormalities that they
might have been 'happily' unaware of until they are confronted with a new
test, examination or a new possibility to enhance normality. This opens
up new arenas and possibilities, but also new decisions to be taken. Some
technologies also produce unwarranted information, in addition to the
clinical purpose that they are used for. Ultrasound technology, for instance,
can provide information about malformation, and the sex of the foetus,
that is to date not included in the routine examination. In this and other
clinical situations, unwarranted information may create dilemmas for the
practitioner as well as for the patient. The practitioner will have to decide
whether these fi ndings should be communicated to the patient, and how.
The patient will have to make sense of information he or she had not asked
for and was unprepared for, information that might affect their thinking
about the future and possible life course.
Of particular interest is the situation people fi nd themselves in when
technology is used not only to treat illness but also to enhance health. Once a
technology exists, it can be used for different purposes and for a wider range
of health problems. Today, there is an on-going discussion about new types
of technology and medication that are applied in a range of situations, from
treatment of illness to promotion of health. In the fi eld of mental health,
for instance, this development is addressed by Carl Elliott in his topic
Better
Than Well
(2003) in relation to the way medication, such as SSRIs, is used
in contemporary society, not only to treat mental illness but also to enhance
wellbeing.
Medical technology thus confronts professionals as well as patients with
new decisions to be taken, and also new uncertainties. As the body has
become a 'project' open to intervention and control, an important aspect of
medical technology is inherently tied to 'the manufacture and circulation of
hopes and promises' (Brown and Webster 2004: 180). The fl ip-side of these
hopes and promises is the issue of trust and uncertainty. As Zygmunt Bauman
(1993) argues, characteristic of modernity is our sense of uncertainty in the
face of a range of competing choices for action. From this point of view,
medical technology can be seen as 'symbolically expressing' the dilemmas of
life in an increasingly uncertain age (Williams 1997: 1048).
The scope of this topic
In this topic, we will address medical technology as related to the life world:
how the life world enters into medical practice and into practitioners'
dealings with medical technologies and the ways medical technologies have
an impact on the life world, with a focus on how normality is constructed
in these processes.
We will fi rst address clinical practice and the ways professionals 'learn',
or are 'socialized', to carry out their professional tasks and how patients
